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Posted on • Originally published at vpsfor.dev

I set up a Node.js production server on Hetzner CX22 for €4.35/mo — here's exactly what I ran

#webdev #javascript #devops #node

Most Node.js hosting guides assume you're using DigitalOcean or AWS. I switched to Hetzner CX22 (€4.35/mo, 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) and it's been running production workloads for months without a single issue.

Here's the exact setup I use — no fluff, just the commands.

Why Hetzner CX22

A 4GB DigitalOcean droplet costs ~$24/month. The Hetzner CX22 with identical specs costs €4.35/month. I ran benchmarks with autocannon — Hetzner is actually ~3.5% faster. So it's cheaper AND faster. The only trade-off is ticket-only support.

The setup (in order)

1. Create a non-root user immediately 

# Login as root (first and only time)
ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy
rsync --archive --chown=deploy:deploy ~/.ssh /home/deploy
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Never run Node.js as root. This takes 30 seconds and saves you from a class of security issues.

2. Firewall on, then forget about it 

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install ufw -y

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable
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All ports closed except 22, 80, 443. Hetzner servers are fully open by default — this step is not optional.

3. Node.js via nvm (not apt) 

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install --lts
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apt install nodejs gives you an outdated version. nvm gives you the current LTS without sudo.

4. Swap file before anything else 

sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
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On a 4GB VPS, npm install during a deploy can spike RAM by 30-50%. Without swap, it OOM-kills your running app mid-deploy. I learned this the hard way.

5. PM2 with memory limits 

npm install -g pm2
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ecosystem.config.js for a 2-core server:

module.exports = {
  apps: [{
    name: 'my-app',
    script: './dist/index.js',
    instances: 2,           // one per core
    exec_mode: 'cluster',
    max_memory_restart: '350M',
    node_args: '--max-old-space-size=320',
    env_production: { NODE_ENV: 'production', PORT: 3000 }
  }]
};
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The --max-old-space-size flag is critical. Without it, V8 can claim up to 1.5GB on a 4GB machine and crash the server. Two workers × 350MB = 700MB max, leaving ~90MB headroom for the OS.

pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production
pm2 save
pm2 startup  # run the command it prints
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6. Nginx + free SSL 

sudo apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
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/etc/nginx/sites-available/my-app:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}
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sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-app /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com
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Certbot handles HTTPS config and sets up auto-renewal. Done.

Total time

From fresh server to HTTPS Node.js app: ~25 minutes the first time, ~10 minutes once you know the commands.

What I'd do differently

  • Set up SSH key auth only (PasswordAuthentication no in sshd_config) — I skipped this once and had 2,000 failed login attempts in the logs within an hour
  • Monitor with pm2 monit before assuming things are fine — one of my workers had a memory leak that only showed up under load

Full step-by-step guide with exact commands at vpsfor.dev →

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